Art Wolfe

Art Wolfe  appeared as our keynote speaker for Nature Visions 2011. His presentation, titled “Between Heaven and Earth” was a multi-media presentation centered on the Himalaya region and reflected Wolfe’s most personal statement to date. “Between Heaven and Earth” was a 90-minute grand adventure tracing Wolfe’s formative years and development as an artist. Following a life-changing experience in Asia, Art Wolfe’s program centered on the Himalaya region of India, China, Nepal and Bhutan – locations that triggered his imagination and wonder towards a path of blending his creativity and art with photography while documenting the wild world.

Intro to Between Heaven and Earth from Art Wolfe on Vimeo.

“Art Wolfe’s photographs are a superb evocation of some of the most breathtaking spectacles in the world.” -Sir David Attenborough

Over the course of his 30-year career, photographer Art Wolfe has worked on every continent and in hundreds of locations. His stunning images interpret and record the world’s fast-disappearing wildlife, landscapes and native cultures, and are a lasting inspiration to those who seek to preserve them all. Wolfe’s photographs are recognized throughout the world for their mastery of color, composition and perspective.

“Art Wolfe’s work tells a story that is overwhelming, breathtaking, and vast.” -Robert Redford

Wolfe’s photographic mission is multi-faceted. His vision and passionate wildlife advocacy affirm his dedication to his work. By employing artistic and journalistic styles, he documents his subjects and educates the viewer. His unique approach to nature photography is based on his training in the arts and his love of the environment. His goal is to win support for conservation issues by “focusing on what’s beautiful on the Earth.” Hailed by William Conway, former president of the Wildlife Conservation Society, as “the most prolific and sensitive recorder of a rapidly vanishing natural world,” Wolfe has taken an estimated one million images in his lifetime and has released over sixty books, including the award-winning Vanishing Act, The High Himalaya, Water: Worlds between Heaven & Earth, Tribes, Rainforests of the World, The Art of Photographing Nature, as well as numerous children’s titles. Graphis included his books Light on the Land and the controversial Migrations on its list of the 100 best books published in the 1990s.

“There’s a stunning clarity and vibrancy in Art Wolfe’s wildlife portraits, which are careful, often haunting, compositions.” -The New York Times Book Review

In 2000 he published his signature work The Living Wild, which has more than 70,000 copies in print worldwide and garnered awards from the National Outdoor Book Awards, Independent Publisher, Applied Arts and Graphis. In 2001 WP published the award-winning Africa, and in 2003 Edge of the EarthCorner of the Sky, which captured significant publishing awards, including IPPY (Independent Publishers), Benjamin Franklin (Publishers Marketing Association), and National Outdoor Book Award. Mountaineers Press just released his latest book, Travels to the Edge: A Photo Odyssey.

“Art has the broadest range of excellence of any nature photographer I know.” -Galen Rowell

Art Wolfe has been awarded with a coveted Alfred Eisenstaedt Magazine Photography Award as well as named Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year by the North American Nature Photography Association. The National Audubon Society recognized Wolfe’s work in support of the national wildlife refuge system with its first-ever Rachel Carson Award. He is a member of Canon’s elite list of renowned photographers “Explorers of Light” and Microsoft’s Icons of Imaging. Magazines all over the world publish his photographs and stories, and his work is licensed for monograph retail products as well as advertising. Numerous North American and international venues have featured his traveling exhibits.

Wolfe has ventured into the world of television production with “On Location with Art Wolfe,” “Techniques of the Masters” and as host of “American Photo’s Safari”, which aired on ESPN 1993-1995. In May 2007 Art made his public television debut with the high definition series “Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge,” an intimate and upbeat series that offers unique insights on nature, culture, and the new realm of digital photography. The thirteen-episode first season has garnered American Public Television’s 2007 Programming Excellence Award—unprecedented for a first season show. Now in its second season, has been broadcast more than 125,000 times in the United States alone and is seen in Asia, Europe, South America, and the Middle East.

“The intensity, texture, and strange density of Art Wolfe’s photographs are truly astonishing.” -Peter Matthiessen

The son of commercial artists, Wolfe was born on September 13, 1951 in Seattle and still calls the city home. He graduated from the University of Washington with Bachelor’s degrees in fine arts and art education; in 1999 he was named to the UW Alumni Association’s magazine list of 100 “most famous, fascinating and influential” alumni of the 20th century. Wolfe spends nearly nine months a year traveling, carefully researching the locations as well as pre-visualizing the photographs he wants to take. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, a Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers and serves on the advisory boards for the Nature’s Best Foundation and Bridges to Understanding. He donates performances and work to environmental and educational groups every year; his lecture series is also in demand for corporate conventions and trade shows. Wolfe maintains his gallery, stock agency, production company and digital photography school in the SODO district of Seattle. For more information about Art and his work, visit his website: www.artwolfe.com.